


Watching You Watching Him

by ajeepandleather



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: BAMF Stiles, Jealous Derek, M/M, Mild Angst, Monster of the Week, Oblivious Stiles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-10
Updated: 2018-08-10
Packaged: 2019-06-24 15:14:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15633297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ajeepandleather/pseuds/ajeepandleather
Summary: For@artemis69who requested Derek being jealous of the monster-of-the-week-turned-ally who Stiles is fawning over





	Watching You Watching Him

**Author's Note:**

  * For [artemis69](https://archiveofourown.org/users/artemis69/gifts).



> For my 4k follower celebration on Tumblr, winners got to send me a prompt to write about. Hope you all enjoy :)

“You might want to stuff the growl there, Der-Bear.” Erica sidles up next to him, wrapping a hand around his elbow and leading him out of the loft’s livingroom and into the kitchen. 

“I wasn’t growling,” he huffs but doesn’t resist the tug of his beta. She seats him in one of the barstools Lydia had picked out siting their “rustic industrial chic” vibe. Derek thought they were vaguely uncomfortable and should belong in a garage if not for their triple digit price tag. 

“Alright, and you weren’t glaring a hole into Josh’s skull . . .” She lifts her well manicured eyebrows at him. He has a vague feeling that he taught her that and so part of the irritation it causes is his own fault. 

“No, I wasn’t glaring. Just watching.” Erica hums as she pours herself a glass of iced tea, pressing her lips together but he sees the edges of a smirk anyhow. There’s a mutter of “creeper tendencies that he manfully ignores. 

He just rolls his eyes and accepts the glass she pushes his way without comment. It wasn’t that he was creeping, he was just being cautious. It was the right of an alpha to crank up the protectiveness with the possibility of a threat nearby. 

Stiles laughs from the livingroom and Derek can easily picture the way he has his head thrown back and eyes scrunched closed. The growl returns and there’s no denying it’s there anymore than the tokoloshe in his livingroom. 

***

Over the last few months, Beacon Hills had been buzzing with new whispers of something in the Preserve. Not wolves or mountain lions but something more mysterious. The high school was buzzing with rumors of ghosts and demons haunting the forest and scaring people to death if they thought they could cross it at night. These weren’t the kind of things the pack could ignore so they had decided to investigate. 

They had split into pairs and wandered in hopes of stumbling across who even knew what. Not the most amazing plan but without a clue of what they were up against it was all they could really do. Humans were paired with wolves given the instruction to keep their nose open in hopes of catching a foreign scent. 

It was just Derek’s luck to be paired with Stiles, everyone else having paired with a significant other. He had rolled his eyes when Stiles had been pushed, rambling excuses, into Derek’s shoulder. It had been to cover the hurt look he knew he couldn’t quite hide head on as Stiles’ scent soured. It had been a long and quiet walk. 

Derek was scrambling for something to fill the suffocating silence when he threw out an arm to stop Stiles in his tracks. The boy had gone to protest but swallowed it when Derek raised his head to scent the air. It was something strange, certainly. Tangy and muted like lake water. He listened to the surrounding area, tuning out Stiles’ rabbit quick heartbeat and shallow breaths. He was in serious danger of another cold, if the sticky sound of his lungs was anything to go by, and Derek decided he would get him that gross vitamin C drink mix when they got back to the loft. 

He was about to continue walking when the bushes to their left rustled. Stiles squeaked and didn’t resist when Derek pulled at his arm to put himself between whatever it was and Stiles. A subvocal growl rumbled from his chest and up into his throat, growing louder when it was the bushes directly behind them that moved next. He whipped around, scanning the area for more movement. Whatever it was, it was certainly fast. 

“Silly wolves, so silly.” A high, bell like voice rang through the air making Stiles jump but Derek’s muscles tensed prepared for an attack. 

“Show yourself.” 

“Der, not sure if that’s a great- oh shit!” More bushes rattle to their left. Because Derek has turned his face to look at the new set of bushes, he doesn’t see the acorn fly through the air and hit him in the temple. He whips around and snarls. 

“Don’t you know better than to come into the forest at night?” The voice giggles and seems to come from every direction. 

“It’s my forest.”

“Oh, tsk tsk. You wolves and your territory.”

The night hadn’t ended in bloodshed, but Derek had been drenched after chasing the creature, following it all the way to the lake. The pack had found him on the shore, wrestling with the lake weed wrapped around him. Somehow, while Boyd had helped release Derek from his confines Scott had gotten the thing to come out and talk. 

The creature that crawled out of the lake was short and built wide. A tuft of red hair that seemed to defy the water surrounding him and eyes that were purely white. He was grinning as he approached.

“And what do the silly wolves have to say?” He stops while still calf deep in the water, a few yards from where Scott and the rest of the pack stand. 

“You’re in our territory. You need to leave.” Derek, now pulling free from the last of the weeds, feels the smallest swell of pride while listening to the True Alpha. It wasn’t easy having two alphas in a pack, but they made it work. Or, well, Stiles made it work.

“Oh, of course, the puppies own the land.” The tokoloshe rolls its eyes and the water around his legs starts to swirl in agitation. 

“You’re scaring people and aren’t treating the land with respect. The Hale land deserves and expects better.” Derek stands and walks back to the group with Boyd and stands shoulder to shoulder with Scott. 

“He’s a spirit of mischief incarnate.” Derek’s heart lurches and pulls when he feels Stiles become tense to his left but has to continue. “A tokoloshe.”

The creature laughs and claps, “Yes, very good. Such a smart wolf.” 

“Aren’t they summoned? They come and do tricks for the person who calls them.” Stiles looks to him to confirm the information and he nods, warmed by the deferment. “Then it seems like we need to find out who summoned him to get rid of him.” 

“Well, that’s no fun.” The creature crosses his arms over his chest and pulls an exaggerated pout.

“Do you know who you were summoned by?” Erica asks from behind him, chewing gum like this wasn’t a negotiation that could easily escalate into a fight. 

“Why would he tell us, dumbass?” Isaac elbows her in the stomach which earns him a growl and it’s all Derek can do to not facepalm like a weary parent. 

“I don’t know who Master is,” the tokoloshe replies with a shrug. Derek focuses on the heartbeat in front of him and doesn’t find a blip. He turns to Scott the make sure and gets a wide eyed shrug of “I dunno, man” in return. 

“Have you been asked to do anything then?” Stiles steps forward a bit, eyebrows drawn in and hand reaching up to tug at his earlobe and then fiddle with the collar of his shirt. Derek resists the urge to tug him back and behind him, away from the potential threat.

“Yes. Master has asked to keep the children out and avoid the snooping ‘wolves.” 

“Then why are we even talking?” 

“Shut up, Erica!” 

“Tokoloshe are known for turning on their masters.” Derek looks over at Lydia who is absently checking her nails. Derek has to wonder when his pack lost so much self preservation and became entirely too comfortable with such situations. 

“Mmhhmm, the screaming lady is right. Very pretty, too.” Derek resists rolling his eyes at that and works to rein everything back in. 

“And if you’re willing to turn on your master, does that mean you’ll help us?” Derek looks the tokoloshe in the eyes and waits. It’s terrible and he hates it, would rather snarl and threaten him into submission but Stiles and Deaton have worked on his diplomacy skills and he likes to think it’s working. 

Another careless little shrug, “I’ve got nothing better to do.” 

“That easy?”

“Oh my god, Erica!” 

“Hush, children,” Stiles whips around and actually shushes the betas behind them. “The adults are talking.” The effect is ruined as the serious façade falls and he snickers at his own joke. 

***

All of that leading up to now, where Derek can’t even stand in his own livingroom because the sight before him is getting under his skin. 

Maybe it would have been different if it was a redheaded little troll creature sitting on the couch next to Stiles but no, this was Derek Hale’s life. Of course it was noted that the tokoloshe would look rather strange if seen in town while they went about getting to the loft for discussions. And it couldn’t be something like giving him a hoodie or stuffing him in a backpack. Nooo, of fucking course not. 

The tokoloshe proceeded to shift and wiggle until he was suddenly a lanking six foot young man with bright blue eyes and an easy smile. He explained that when he was called he would shift and do as told, the shift bringing out the traditional side of the tokoloshe out in him. He liked to be called Josh. 

Now Josh was sitting and chatting with his pack on the couches, sipping a rootbeer like this was just any other social get together. 

“He’s just gathering information, you know that, don’t you?” Lydia walks into the kitchen and fills up her cup with water without looking at him. “He wants to know at least a little bit about everything and here is a first hand source to answer any question that crazy brain can come up with.” She takes a delicate sip as she sits next to him at the breakfast bar. 

“Sure,” another burst of raucous laughter from the livingroom, Derek side eyes Lydia, “real keen information gathering out there.” 

She just rolls her eyes, he thinks her eye are nearly banshee white with how far back they go. 

“You may be able to pull off just about anything, but self-pity and jealousy are not a good look on you.” 

“Looks just as good as your motherly comfort,” Derek smiles sardonically. She just huffs and stands from her seat. 

“I actually worry that you may never pull your head out of your ass and see the obvious right in front of you.”

***

“There was an attack in the Preserve,” Scott’s voice tells him when he answers his call. 

“What happened?” Derek stands from where he had been doing his daily pushups and closes his eyes. 

“Stiles texted me like an hour ago and said he lost track of Josh and now there’s a bunch of people at school talking about someone being attacked in the woods.” Scott sounds a bit frantic and hushed. Looking at the time it would make sense since he’s still in school, likely he’s supposed to be in class. “They say the guy is pretty messed up, a bunch of cuts all over his arms and talking nonsense.”

“Have you found Josh yet? Has he come back?”

“No, we can’t find him anywhere. We need you to go find him.” Derek rubs a hand over his face, notes the bit of perspiration that’s managed to accumulate at his temple. “The kid needs stitches, Derek.”

“I’m on it. Get back to class.”

“Sure thing, Dad,” Scott huffs before the line goes dead with a click. Derek rolls his eyes and debates changing out of his workout gear. He had been planning to go for a run anyway and a “runner looks far less suspicious than a dude in leather, Derek”. 

He paces himself as he runs through the more popular paths, not wanting anyone who might be out to question the guy going as fast as a car while they jog. He scents the air as he goes, looking for that particular smell of lake and something that Derek can’t quite identify as anything other than tokoloshe. 

He catches it deeper into the Preserve, maybe a hundred yards or so off the running paths. He looks around, making sure no one is watching him and ducks into the thicker underbrush. He follows the scent, wanting to sneeze with the way it’s tickling his sinuses as it grows stronger. 

“Naughty wolf, you aren’t supposed to be here.” Derek turns sharply to his left and finds Josh in his shifted form, approaching slowly with a mischievous glint in his eye. It doesn’t bode well for Derek. 

“You need to shift back, Josh. You hurt someone.” The tokoloshe twitches in front of him before growling. 

“You need to leave.”

The dwarf-like creature leaps at him, small hands suddenly armed with small razor sharp claws and coming at his face. Derek shifts without a second thought and blocks the attack as best he can. He bats the tokoloshe away with a firm swipe but not before he feels the sting of those claws. 

Josh lands with a thump but is up in seconds and rushing him once more. He doesn’t want to hurt the kid as much as he may not like him so he does his best to fight defensively until he can think of a way to stop him. He’s too slow dodging the next attack and hisses as teeth sink into his calf. He kicks out and launches Josh into the air, flinging him a few dozen yards away. 

“Derek!” The wolf whips around and sees Stiles, stupidly brave Stiles, panting a few feets away. 

“Go away, Stiles,” he growls, hearing Josh making his way back. “You’re going to get hurt.”

“Well, you’re going to keep getting hurt if you don’t listen to me!” Stiles answers waspishly. Derek notices the ancient looking tome only when Stiles brings it forward and flips it to a bookmarked section. Josh is back and huffing in agitation as he takes stock of Derek. 

“Stiles.” He growls, trying again to get the human to leave. His skin doesn’t knit back together, he needs needles and thread to fix himself. 

“Shut up and listen!” Stiles shouts as Josh launches into another attack, this time ducking past Derek’s defense and ripping into his ribs. “You need to back away, let Josh push you out of the area.”

Derek takes that in and does as he’s told. When Josh moves in to attack, Derek back tracks. It’s following his previous defensive strategy but he notices the change. Josh’s attacks slow, he spends more time just pacing Derek back with growls and menacing displays of claws. 

“Good. He’ll stop when he thinks you’re far enough away.”

“Far enough from what?” Derek snaps over his shoulder, keeping his eyes trained on Josh. 

“From whatever he’s protecting!” Derek chooses to ignore the sigh of exasperation and continues to do as he’s told. Just as predicted, the tokoloshe seems to hit an invisible line and stops his pursuit. 

“Now what.” Derek backs up further until he bumps into Stiles, who’s reading the book he’s holding, and pushes him firmly behind his back. 

“I’m trying to figure that out,” Stiles grumbles. Derek listens as Stiles’ finger pushes over the old, heavy paper and keeps eye contact with Josh. “Okay, I have a plan.” The book slams shut and he hears Stiles place it on the ground gently. 

“I’m not going to like this, am I?” Derek says, rolling his eyes as Stiles pushes out from behind him. 

“Nope, probably not.” Derek huffs, watching the human make his way closer to Josh. Derek reaches out to stop him from getting too close but gets brushed off for his efforts. “Hey, Josh. It’s Stiles.”

Josh for his part manages to tear his eyes from where Derek is still in beta shift to flick his gaze to Stiles. There’s a brief flash of recognition there but it’s gone before Derek can get his minimal hopes up. 

“You need to come back to us, buddy. You hurt someone today.” Stiles’ voice is soft and patient like he’s talking to distressed child. “Come on, dude.” 

“Stiles.” The name lisps over the sharp tokoloshe fangs, but his eyes are now fully trained on Stiles and ignoring Derek completely. 

“Yeah, that’s right. And you’re Josh Matterson.” The shift ripples over the tokoloshe like a wave and suddenly there’s a lanky redheaded teenager looking a little lost. 

“What happened?”

***

“Hey, Derek.” Stiles waves over his shoulder, not even looking up from his computer as Derek steps fully into his room. It’s a stark contrast from the way Josh startles and grabs at his chest. Derek takes satisfaction in the pounding heart rate and acridic scent of fear wafting over to him. He may or may not still resent that swipe to the ribs.

“Why is he here.” 

“Nice use of question marks, buddy.” Stiles turns around in his computer chair and fixes him with a look. He knows he’s being reprimanded but he doesn’t let up on his glare. They sit there for a moment in silence, eyes locked and unrelenting until Josh speaks up. 

“I’m helping him update the beastiary.” Derek’s eyes shift to the tokoloshe sitting perched on Stiles’ bed where he normally sits. 

“So, why are you here?” Stiles’ eyes narrow further as if daring him to be rude. 

“Wanted to check in on the research.” Stiles relaxes a bit, sitting back in his chair and seems to mull over the response. 

“Might as well take a seat, then. We’re almost finished, after that I’ll tell you what I can.” Derek takes one look at the proffered seat, a section of the bed next to Josh and barely resists the urge to wrinkle his nose. 

“Just tell me at the pack meeting tomorrow.” He doesn’t wait for a response but hears the start of a protest as he vaults out the window. Without stopping, he lands and runs to the forest behind Stiles’ house. He doesn’t know exactly know how long he runs, trying to escape the itching feeling 

***

Derek wasn’t exactly the most optimistic person in the world. See just about any part of his past as an example and you might see why. That didn’t mean he was a pessimist, at least he didn’t think he was all that negative. He thought of himself as realistic, pragmatic even. He didn’t see the silver lining in every situation like Scott but he certainly wasn’t as cynical as Stiles on any given day. That being said, Derek thought he could predict how things would play out with decent accuracy. 

He was very, very wrong. 

He had gone out for groceries, the pack having nearly wiped his kitchen clean throughout the week and he needed to restock for the pack meeting tonight. It wasn’t something he minded but it was rather tedious having to rotate grocery stores every few weeks to not raise suspicion on how much one grown man could eat in a week. 

It was supposed to be an easy trip, just the groceries and then home. But on his way there he spotted the Daily Perk, the newest coffee shop in Beacon Hills and decided now was as good as ever to try it out. He already knew that a vanilla hazelnut latte as his baseline judgement of every new coffee shop and was pulling out his wallet as he rang the bell over the door.

He was oblivious as he walked to the counter and ordered from an excessively smiley barista. He tips her because he isn’t a complete asshole and walks to the pickup counter while scrolling on his phone. He’s distracted with a string of texts from Erica but eventually he picks up on the cinnamon-sugar-lemon and rabbiting heart rate. 

He looks up and his wolf bristles at the sight before him. Across the cafe, at a tall little bistro table for two is Stiles and Josh, hunched over a notebook with their shoulders just barely brushing. The growl crawls up his throat unbidden and when he hears his named called from behind him he snaps around so quick the barista nearly jumps out of her skin. 

“Uh, your order’s ready.” She pushes the latte forward ducks her head a bit. He ignores the foam heart as he practically slams a lid onto the drink, ready to leave as soon as possible. But yet again, the universe proves Derek should really predict more disaster in his future. 

“Derek! Hey, dude, what’s up?” Stiles is walking over to him, Josh left to read through the notebook at the table. Stiles is smiling, eyes bright and happy. There’s a slight flush to his cheeks that Derek hadn’t noticed before and it makes his stomach turn unpleasantly. 

“Just getting coffee.” Derek tries to move past but Stiles just tips his weight to that foot and blocks his path subtly. 

“Did you actually indulge in your sweet tooth for once?” One of Stiles’ eyebrows rises with a small smirk like he’s poking at some secret. It might as well be with how little Derek broadcasts the information in public. He was usually content to eating dark chocolate brownies and the sugar lemon cake Mrs. Campbell makes at home. He even keeps his latte hidden, often ordering plain coffee when he goes out with the pack. 

“Yes, Stiles. Is that all?” Derek looks over the human’s shoulder and to the door, pleading with the universe to just let him go. 

“Yeah, I guess it is.” The snap in Stiles’ voice startles him, his gaze not quick enough to catch the look on the boy’s face before he spins on his heel and is gone. Derek sighs and feels his shoulders drop, empty hand stuffed in his jacket pocket as he exits the shop. 

***

“So, when I dug into the lore I could find there was what we already knew - lake spirit, mischievous, summoned. But there was something new.” Stiles brandishes the old tome Derek had seen him with in the Preserve. “The reason most tokoloshe are summoned is to be a guard dog.” 

“Because that isn’t derogatory,” Josh mutters but he’s smiling. 

“Oh man, if you plan to stick around, get used to it,” Scott pipes up, “The dog jokes are everywhere.”

“Boys, focus.” Lydia fixes them with a sharp look and they quiet down, turning back to where Stiles is standing in front of the group where they sprawl across Derek’s couches.

“We think that if Josh ignores an order from his Master, they’ll come looking for him.” Stiles explains. Derek leans against the doorframe that leads into the kitchen behind everyone else and tries to make eye contact with the human. “They’re trying to keep people away from something so they’re gonna want to make sure their sentrary is on the clock.”

It had been tense when Stiles had arrived earlier. He had led Josh into the livingroom, ignoring Derek’s ‘hello’ as he passed and walked right to where Lydia was sitting having arrived extra early. It hadn’t gotten any better from there and Derek wasn’t able to brush off the next few instances. He was ignored when he offered to grab drinks, Stiles going into the kitchen not even two minutes later to grab himself a coke. Stiles always sat next to Derek on the largest couch, claiming the armrest and patting the space next to him every time like Derek wasn’t already headed that way. This time Stiles pulls Josh down next to him and refuses to meet Derek’s hurt gaze. 

“Wait, how do you get your orders to begin with?” Lydia lifts one immaculate eyebrow in Josh’s direction. 

“I, uh - I dunno really?” The boy shrugs under the scrutinizing gazes of the pack. “I kind of just get a feeling of what I need to do and usually the little guy just does it.”

“Little guy?” Scott looks concerned from where he’s pressed in between Isaac and Allison on the loveseat. It couldn’t possibly be comfortable but the trio made it work. 

“Yeah, my sprite form? He kinda just takes over.”

“Like Hulk.” Stiles adds proudly like he had taken some time to come up with the analogy. “Well, more like World Breaker Hulk, because normal Hulk is kinda just a car driven by Dr. Banner and-”

“Get on with it, Batman.” Erica waves her hand around trying to get the human back on track. 

“Right. So, we think if Josh ignores the calling then his Master will try to find him and figure out why he isn’t doing what he’s supposed to.”

“And how do we -” Derek starts to ask, debating in his head to come forward to lean against the back of the couch but almost instantly cows when he’s cut off.

“We think that if we keep Josh contained somewhere in the Preserve and stop him from doing as he’s told we can lure the Master in and then pounce. I’m thinking putting Allison up on that ridge by the river? And have the Pack equally fanned out around Josh in the trees, and we can make the drop once the Master is in range.”

Derek keeps quiet after that, remains at the edge of the group until the pack splits for the night. They agree to stay on call until Josh feels the next compulsion to follow an order. Someone is required to be with him at all times and Stiles volunteers without a thought, reasoning that he has already spent the last couple of days doing just that. Derek holes up in the area he’s claimed as his room and waits until everyone is gone and out of hearing range before whining into his pillow.

***

Favorite Human :D -  
J being called, meet @ ridge

The text comes the next day at 2pm and Derek sighs as he flicks the burner off on his stove. It would be interesting to hear later how all the pups managed to escape class. For now, Derek just slips on his shoes and grabs his keys and heads out. 

The ‘wolves have been given strict instructions to arrive at staggered times as silently as possible and get into position. Josh is to sit at the bottom of the ridge and wait for his Master to show up. Derek is second to last to arrive being on the edge of the Preserve in the loft and takes to the nearest tree with a decent vantage point. He scents Stiles somewhere to Josh’s left, concealed in a small alcove in the ridge. 

“There you are, ya little shit.” The man that steps forward isn’t one Derek recognizes. But he does scent the wolfsbane and gunpowder on him and knows instinctively he’s a hunter. “Why aren’t you shifted?”

The man is terribly young, not much older than Derek and it shows in the arrogance of his gait. Derek watches closely as the man continues forward, eyes narrowed and a subvocal growl rumbling in his chest. As per the plan, Josh remains silent and seated with his back to the ridge behind him. 

“Come on, beast. I don’t have time for this.” The man unholsters the gun strapped to his hip and points it in Josh’s direction. That’s when Stiles decides it’s a good time to come out of hiding. 

“I wouldn’t do that, asshole.” Under the thrum of fear Derek feels mildly impressed with how steady Stiles looks, unyielding and fierce even as the gun swings to point at his chest. It’s a change from just a year ago when he reeked of fear at the same sight, a personal growth Derek resented for being necessary. 

“Who are you?”

“Doesn’t matter. Who are you? What hunting family are you from?” Stiles shoves his hands deep into his pockets where Derek knows he keeps the small, foldable throwing knives Allison gave him. 

“Why should I tell you?” Before the last word is even fully past the hunter’s lips the arrow thumps just inches from his toes making him jump back with a curse, fumbling his grip with the gun. 

“Because there’s a hunter around here somewhere wanting to know.” 

“I thought the Argents left-” Another arrow, this one whizzing past his ear eliciting a colorful string of curses. 

“And I really don’t care what you think,” Stiles cocks out one hip and lifts his eyebrows, “Name.”

“Barron. Alex Barron.” He can practically hear the gears whirring in Stiles’ head as he works through his internal information of hunters. 

“Hmm, not the most devoted followers of the Code, are you?” Derek can see enough of Barron’s face to see him sneer. 

“Why do you care?” Stiles’ eyes darken, no longer as casually aloof and easy. Stiles pulls his hands from his pockets and flicks out two of the eight throwing knives Derek knows he has. 

“Because I don’t believe in people using and abusing the people they hunt.” Stiles snarls, looking nearly as deadly as one of the ‘wolves. 

“You watch it, kid-” Derek doesn’t listen to another word as the gun starts to lift again, just drops from his perch with a roar and takes satisfaction in the sudden waft of terror that hits his nose. The pack joins him and create a crescent moon around the man, Josh standing as well. 

“What are you having Josh guard?” Stiles steps further forward as Scott steps up behind Barron and yanks the gun from his hand. 

“Like I’m going to tell-” Scott still has the hunter’s hand in his grip and twists his wrist slowly, bending it until Barron cries out, “Okay! Okay! I’ll tell you!” Scott drops his hand and instead bends the gun in his grasp, dropping it to the forest floor menacingly. 

“Well, out with it,” Stiles waves his hand in a circular motion, still gripping his knives, to hurry the man along. 

“There’s supposed to be a vault out here, it has money and artifacts. I’ve been tracking it down for months and finally found where it’s supposed to be hidden. I had the tokoloshe guard it so no one would go stomping through where I was digging.” 

“A vault?” Isaac asks, looking at Derek. 

“That vault happen to be the Hale vault?” Derek growls, making the hunter jump. 

“Y-yeah.” Stiles busts up, bending over with his arms wrapped around his middle and Derek has a moment to be concerned he might accidentally knick himself. 

“Oh my god, all this- all this work for nothing!” Stiles continues to laugh, slowly gaining his breath back and Derek studiously ignores the flush spread delicately across his cheeks and down the sides of his long neck. He does not wonder how far the blush goes. 

“What do you mean?” The hunter sounds mad and confused all at once, glaring at a still giggling Stiles. 

“All that effort, getting caught by the local pack, and just to be told,” Stiles looks Barron in the eye with a twisted little glint that Derek has learned is his mean streak come to life, “you’ve been digging in the wrong place. Just like the Hales made sure you would.” 

Derek smiles at that, mentally cheering for his family and how they planned for these thing, successful and warding off tools like this. It makes something in his chest ache deeply and he lets it. 

“Let Josh go now,” Scott growls from behind the hunter, still having his wrist in a firm and threatening grip.

“Like I know how? I was just planning to kill it when I was done.” Derek can hear the crack of bone even under the scream of pain coming from said hand’s owner. 

“He needs to recite a small incantation saying Josh is released of his service,” Stiles says as he stalks towards the man, thrusting one of his knives under the guy’s throat. Derek would not admit, even under threat of death, that he finds the image hot. 

Derek is proud to say the pack says vigilante until Barron is securely cuffed by Allison, everyone looking rather pettifully happy when the man whines about his broken wrist. They keep to their formation as Stiles gets the hunter to recite the incantation. There’s no real difference in Josh when it’s all said and done, the boy shrugs when everyone looks at him expectantly. 

“Try to get him to do something,” Isaac tells him. 

“Fuck a cactus,” the man spits, actually attempting to spit at the end only managing to get his chin wet. It’s pitiful. 

“I don’t feel very motivated,” Josh smirks. 

***

Life continues on like normal from there, as normal as it can get for a mismatched pack of supernaturals, hunter and token human. Well, almost back to normal. 

“Wow, didn’t think I’d ever see you here again,” Stiles snarks without turning around as Derek finishes climbing through the window. 

“What.”

“I mean, with Josh sticking around to graduate and all, I thought you’d avoid me at least until graduation.” He continues to click around on his computer but Derek’s sharper than average vision tells him he’s just bouncing between the same two wikipedia pages. 

“You’re the one avoiding me,” Derek huffs, crossing his arms over his chest. It stung to admit it out loud but it wasn’t something he could deny with how glaringly obvious the gap in his life without Stiles was. 

“You did it first!” Now Stiles turns, practically toppling over as he tries to stand before he’s completely finished the turn. Derek just lifts his eyebrows. “Oh, fuck you. There’s no other way to phrase that.”

“I didn’t avoid you.” He cringes when Stiles eyes widen and he gets that mock incredulous look on his face. It infuriates Derek to no end and Stiles knows it. 

“Oh really? So, you were just so happy to see me at the Daily Perk and when you avoided me like the plague while we talked to Josh that first night? What about how you practically fled the scene when you came to check the research?” The longer he goes on, the tenser Derek’s shoulders pull together. He keeps eye contact though, viciously so, having been starved from the sight for the past week not knowing how much he liked them until he couldn’t manage to get a proper glimpse. “Say something!”

The volume startles him. Stiles doesn’t shout, not since the hospital. He admitted that he regretted what he said, hated that that’s what came out. He snarks and snaps like a rabid animal but he doesn’t yell. It must be what Derek needed to hear, startling the truth out of him. 

“What did all of those have in common, Stiles?” His voice quiet and his arms drop to his sides. He’s going to lay it all out this time, no more hiding. 

“What do you mean?” Stiles frowns, physically backing down. He pulls back and the crease between his eyebrows forms, Derek wants to smooth it out with his thumb. 

“Come on, Stiles. Tell me what all those instances have in common.” He swallows thickly and waits for that incredibly sharp work it out. 

“Josh was there.” All he can manage is a small nod, pressing his lips together. “I know you don’t like Josh but why should I be punished?” No he’s the one to cross his arms over his chest like he can physically defend his sore emotions. 

“I couldn’t look at him. Not when- not when he was with you.” It falls from his mouth in a gust of breath. He takes another deep breath and continues, “You instantly loved him, looking at him like he was something right out of a fairytale. You talked and laughed and took him to coffee and had him in your room in my-”

“In your spot.” Derek’s gaze, having dropped while he spoke, snapped back up to meet Stiles’. His jaw works and he does his best to not grind his teeth before nodding once again. 

“I was jealous.”

“You were jealous,” Stiles turns and slumps down onto his bed, dropping his head into his hands and Derek feels his heart plummet. “You were jealous over me.”

“I’m sorry, I- I know I have no right,” Derek backs up, pushing himself away and trying to avoid inhaling any chemosignals, he doesn’t think he could handle it. “I don’t have any kind of claim over you and I was an asshole and I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Stiles.”

“I swear to the moon, if you try jumping out of that window I was eviscerate you.” Derek freezes with one hand on the window sill. “Come here.” Derek’s alpha instinct doesn’t even put up a fight against the order and that’s when he knows he’s well and truly fucked. The alpha wolf bends to no one but their mate. He gets as close as he’s willing, a few feet in front of where Stiles is still curled over himself and tries to apologize again. 

“Stiles-”

The human moves so fast Derek can’t even properly track the movement. Suddenly there’s hands gripping his shoulders on the edge of painful and a mouth bruising his own. His eyes are wide, watching Stiles’ whose are scrunched closed tightly. He’s frozen for only half a second more before he realizes what’s happening and gets with the goddamn program. 

He wraps his arms around Stiles’ trim waist and tug him as close as he physically can. Stiles’ hands unclench from Derek’s biceps and instead travel around his neck and long fingers run through his hair with intent. The human lets up but only just barely and only enough to tilt to the side and slide their lips even closer together. Tongues get involved and Derek loses track of everything else for a few minutes. 

“You are such an idiot,” Stiles growls against his mouth. “I’ve been gone on you and only you for fucking years and you don’t even know.” Stiles tugs at him, pulls him forward and he walks them to the bed and spins them. Derek is unceremoniously pushed until he sits and suddenly he had a lap full of Stiles. 

“Wha- but. Stiles, I-”

“Am an obtuse asshole? Why yes, Derek, you are.” Stiles rolls his eyes but his fingers are still combing gently through his hair, rubbing against his scalp. “You were jealous over me.” He says it with such disbelief that it hurts somewhere deep and Derek can’t sit here and allow it. 

“Yes, over you, Stiles. Your self-deprecation isn’t something I’m ever going to be okay with, but if you’ll let me I’d like to show you all the reasons I will never be okay seeing you someone else.” Stiles’ heart stutters adorably and Derek just shoves his face into the boy’s chest. 

“Oh my god, you goober!” Stiles laughs that bright, head thrown back laugh and Derek rubbles happily. It’s not even the first in a long line of pet names Stiles comes up with over the years.


End file.
